Agreeing with the people around you isn’t demanding. And most people don’t need to maintain any “true” beliefs about politics, religion and philosophy. They butter no parsnips in practice, and parsinip-buttering beliefs are not varied or unpredictable enough for ingroup signalling purposes.
Agreeing with the people around you isn’t demanding.
I would say it depends on whether you really agree with them or not. If you believe X and you are surrounded by people who believe Y, and you need to conceal your belief in X, then you constantly have to be asking yourself “what would someone who believes in Y do or say?”
And most people don’t need to maintain any “true” beliefs about politics, religion and philosophy.
I’m not sure what it means to “maintain ‘true’ beliefs.” If you go through life, you will naturally develop a mental model (at least one, I suppose) of how the world works. If that model contains an Almighty Creator, then you are a theist. If it doesn’t, then you are an atheist. Perhaps there is a third possibility, that your model is uncertain on this point, making you an agnostic.
If you are an atheist or an agnostic, and you are in a time or place where everyone is expected to be a theist, especially anyone who wants to get ahead in life, then that’s a potential problem. Agreed?
I believe your first point us answered by my second.
You don’t need mental models involving God or not god for any practical purpose .. other than solidarity with your community.
If you are one of the people, typical on LW but not in the population at large, who like to have beliefs on the “big” but practically unimportant questions, you will find dissimulation difficult. If not, not.
A man was telling one of his friends the secret of his contented married life: “My wife makes all the small decisions,” he explained, “and I make all the big ones, so we never interfere in each other’s business and never get annoyed with each other. We have no complaints and no arguments.” “That sounds reasonable,” answered his friend sympathetically. “And what sort of decisions does your wife make?” “Well,” answered the man, “she decides what jobs I apply for, what sort of house we live in, what furniture we have, where we go for our holidays, and things like that.” His friend was surprised. “Oh?” he said. “And what do you consider important decisions then?” “Well,” answered the man, “I decide who should be Prime Minister, whether we should increase our help to poor countries, what we should do about the atom bomb, and things like that.”
You don’t need mental models involving God or not god for any practical purpose .. other than solidarity with your community.
I disagree with that. For example, suppose you are hunting in the woods and you find 10 gold coins. According to your village elders, Crom the grim gloomy unforgiving god commands that you donate any such windfall to the Village Shrine to Crom, and that to do so will guarantee you eternal paradise. And that to fail to do so will guarantee eternal damnation.
If your mental model of the universe includes Crom the grim gloomy unforgiving god, then of course you will make the donation. Otherwise you are likely to keep the windfall to yourself. Of course a decision must be made.
Of course you might object that those days are gone, that nobody is expected to follow religious precepts anymore, at least not in the United States. And I would disagree with that too. In today’s United States, you must still decide where to live and whom to do business with. Does your mental model of the universe include the fact that certain groups are more prone to crime and disruptive behavior than others? If so, you would be wise to have a rationalization in mind for why you don’t want to live anywhere near such groups. Or at least a few euphemisms.
Anyway, please answer my question from before:
If you are an atheist or an agnostic, and you are in a time or place where everyone is expected to be a theist, especially anyone who wants to get ahead in life, then that’s a potential problem. Agreed?
You don’t need mental models involving God or not god for any practical purpose .. other than solidarity with your community.
Oathes do work as a commitment device if you think that the God on which you swear is real and will punish you really exists. No automatic tracking like Beeminder, but still a decent alternative.
Agreeing with the people around you isn’t demanding. And most people don’t need to maintain any “true” beliefs about politics, religion and philosophy. They butter no parsnips in practice, and parsinip-buttering beliefs are not varied or unpredictable enough for ingroup signalling purposes.
I would say it depends on whether you really agree with them or not. If you believe X and you are surrounded by people who believe Y, and you need to conceal your belief in X, then you constantly have to be asking yourself “what would someone who believes in Y do or say?”
I’m not sure what it means to “maintain ‘true’ beliefs.” If you go through life, you will naturally develop a mental model (at least one, I suppose) of how the world works. If that model contains an Almighty Creator, then you are a theist. If it doesn’t, then you are an atheist. Perhaps there is a third possibility, that your model is uncertain on this point, making you an agnostic.
If you are an atheist or an agnostic, and you are in a time or place where everyone is expected to be a theist, especially anyone who wants to get ahead in life, then that’s a potential problem. Agreed?
I believe your first point us answered by my second.
You don’t need mental models involving God or not god for any practical purpose .. other than solidarity with your community.
If you are one of the people, typical on LW but not in the population at large, who like to have beliefs on the “big” but practically unimportant questions, you will find dissimulation difficult. If not, not.
A man was telling one of his friends the secret of his contented married life: “My wife makes all the small decisions,” he explained, “and I make all the big ones, so we never interfere in each other’s business and never get annoyed with each other. We have no complaints and no arguments.” “That sounds reasonable,” answered his friend sympathetically. “And what sort of decisions does your wife make?” “Well,” answered the man, “she decides what jobs I apply for, what sort of house we live in, what furniture we have, where we go for our holidays, and things like that.” His friend was surprised. “Oh?” he said. “And what do you consider important decisions then?” “Well,” answered the man, “I decide who should be Prime Minister, whether we should increase our help to poor countries, what we should do about the atom bomb, and things like that.”
I disagree with that. For example, suppose you are hunting in the woods and you find 10 gold coins. According to your village elders, Crom the grim gloomy unforgiving god commands that you donate any such windfall to the Village Shrine to Crom, and that to do so will guarantee you eternal paradise. And that to fail to do so will guarantee eternal damnation.
If your mental model of the universe includes Crom the grim gloomy unforgiving god, then of course you will make the donation. Otherwise you are likely to keep the windfall to yourself. Of course a decision must be made.
Of course you might object that those days are gone, that nobody is expected to follow religious precepts anymore, at least not in the United States. And I would disagree with that too. In today’s United States, you must still decide where to live and whom to do business with. Does your mental model of the universe include the fact that certain groups are more prone to crime and disruptive behavior than others? If so, you would be wise to have a rationalization in mind for why you don’t want to live anywhere near such groups. Or at least a few euphemisms.
Anyway, please answer my question from before:
If you are an atheist or an agnostic, and you are in a time or place where everyone is expected to be a theist, especially anyone who wants to get ahead in life, then that’s a potential problem. Agreed?
Unless your model of the world includes people ostracizing you for doing so.
I completely agree, but you are kinda fighting the hypothetical here.
Oathes do work as a commitment device if you think that the God on which you swear is real and will punish you really exists. No automatic tracking like Beeminder, but still a decent alternative.
But such punishment is even further away in time than staying fat or failing the exam, so if the latter can’t motivate you to diet or study...